The Nation: Underclassmen

One hypothesis has it that today's middle-and upper-middle-class youth
are romantically willing themselves into an underclass, thus perhaps
opening opportunities for the rising and ambitious children of
blue-collar workers. Anyone who reads the latest report of Harvard
College's Office for Graduate and Career Plans must at least entertain
the possibility.

In the Harvard College class of 1970, says the report, 18% of the
graduating seniors were undecided what to do after graduation, against
4-6% in 1964-67. The proportion of students intending to go to graduate
schools dropped from 74% in 1966 to 46% in 1970. While the idea once
seemed willfully eccentric,...